'The Romney-Ryan plan'

8/9/12 7:41 AM EDT

Bill Kristol and Stephen Hayes, who have been among the most supportive of and vocal about a Paul Ryan VP nomination, push back on the notion that Mitt Romney has distanced himself from the Medicare cuts in the congressman's budget map, which they refer to as the "Romney-Ryan" plan:

Romney has praised Ryan’s budget without qualification. Furthermore, Romney's Medicare reform proposal is almost identical to the Ryan-Wyden plan, the latest version of Medicare reform from Ryan. Don’t take our word for it. Here is one rather authoritative analysis of Romney’s proposal, written in response to the question: “How is this different from the Ryan plan?” The answer: “Shortly after Mitt presented the proposal described here, Congressman Paul Ryan and Senator Ron Wyden introduced a bipartisan proposal that almost precisely mirrors Mitt’s ideas.” That comes from the Romney for President website. Romney’s “senior adviser” might give it a look.

What of the first objection — that a Romney-Ryan ticket would place the Ryan budget at the center of the 2012 elections at precisely the time voters will be paying closest attention? Our answer: It' s too late to stop that from happening. And: So what?

The Ryan budget will be at the center of the 2012 election no matter whom Romney picks. Democratic strategist Joe Trippi told THE WEEKLY STANDARD that his party plans to spend much of October talking about the Ryan budget. Paul Begala, who is advising Priorities USA, the pro-Obama super PAC, told The Huffington Post the same thing. This should surprise no one. Democrats have for months been calling Romney's plan the “Romney-Ryan” budget in their talking points. And Democratic candidates across the country have been demagoguing the Ryan budget for two years.

The demagoguery is predictable and lamentable. But it is in fact the case that the Ryan budget is, in a sense, the official Republican governing roadmap. After all, virtually all of the Republicans running for the party’s nomination endorsed it in some manner, and 97 percent of congressional Republicans have voted for one version of the Ryan budget or another. Republicans own the Ryan budget. And so does Mitt Romney.

The "senior adviser" line refers to our item citing what a Romney aide told the traveling press last week, that Romney still disagrees with the Medicare cuts in the plan.

They argue Romney hasn't done that and couldn't if he tried.

This all seems to lay the case for some unrest, if Ryan is not picked, with the candidate and his team.